Friday, February 24, 2012
A Star News Group publication
Phone: 5249 6700 Trades and Classifieds: 1300 666 808
Protection call amid evidence of local koala ‘decline’
GUESS WHO’S COMING TO LARA EVENT PAGE 3
Nose best: Judy O’Brien with Hummish the koala at Jirrahlinga.
Picture: Tommy Ritchie 77614
Growth plan hits harbour ‘hurdle’ BY MICHELLE HERBISON PORTARLINGTON’S harbour must be redeveloped to accommodate a mussel industry expansion of up to 700 per cent, according to an industry representative. Mussel farmer Lance Wiffen said the harbour was “full”, with no room available for additional boats. But local mussel farmers wanted to expand trade through the harbour from an existing 1000 tonnes a year to 5000 then 7000, he said. Portarlington community and
industry groups have been pushing for a safe harbour in the town for more than five years. The previous Labor government finalised a master plan estimating the project’s cost at $26 million for stage one and $58 million in total. Mr Wiffen said the industry also planned to expand with other shellfish production and exporting and processing of products. “The pier is only just coping at the moment and it will need substantial repairs sometime soon. Money will have to be spent sooner or later.”
Member for Bellarine Lisa Neville said the Baillieu Government had “sat on their hands for the past 15 months”. “It’s only because of some local pressure they’ve started to move it along a bit. When in opposition they claimed this would be a priority, so now they need to move it forward as a matter of urgency.” A Government spokesperson said the safe harbour project would be considered in future budgets. “When the coalition came to Government in 2010 it found
that Labor had not included any funding for Portarlington in the forward estimates and a number of other local port facilities were also in need of capital works,” the spokesperson said. A Parks Victoria spokesperson said works of greater scope than the 2009 fix required “significant funding”. “Parks Victoria is currently progressing funding bids. The project has to compete with many other Government priorities and funding will be determined through normal budget processes.”
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CONTAINER JUST LANDED!
Bellarine Ferry and Safe Harbour Group Committee’s John Rae said Parks Victoria carried out works in 2009 for the pier to continue handling mussel trucks until this year. Mr Rae said Ports Minister Denis Napthine pledged in a recent meeting with the committee to run a cost-benefit analysis on the project’s first stage. “A safe harbour will assist both the industry and the township greatly. We want the mussel industry to expand and see opportunities for growth of oysters and scallops.”
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BY MICHELLE HERBISON A BARWON Heads animal sanctuary boss has slammed a second deferral of plans to add koalas to a list of nationally threatened species. Jirrahlinga’s Tehree Gordon urged Environment Minister Tony Burke to “stop procrastinating and make decisions”. Koalas were “seriously at risk” from urban sprawl, traffic, wild dogs and lack of vegetation, she said. “For some people it’s their dream trip to come out to Australia and see a koala. We’ve got something that’s an icon throughout the world and we don’t even recognise it.” Ms Gordon said she had noticed a significant decline in the Geelong region’s koala population recently. “Three to four years ago koalas were regularly seen in Lorne. Now the guy that does koala rescues down there might go weeks without a call.” Ms Gordon said Anakie was also home to many koalas before a 2006 bushfire. “I’ve only seen a couple of koalas on the Anakie Rd since those fires.” Mr Burke this week requested more information about “the precise boundaries of where koala populations are dwindling”. He suggested koalas could be classified as threatened in some areas but not others. “The advice I’ve received…suggests I could generalise these areas to state boundaries but I can’t provide a blanket threatened species listing across Australia when there are many places where koala numbers remain high.”